NCTA wins nationals in crops, ag computers

Crookston, Minn. – The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture took 21 students to a national contest in Minnesota last week and garnered awards for their two-year college in Curtis.

Aggie teams won national titles in crops judging and agricultural computers, with second place in the always competitive livestock judging contest. NCTA teams earned third places in agribusiness management and dairy judging, with fourth-place teams in ag sales, horse judging and livestock management.

The Aggies competed April 14-16 at the University of Minnesota-Crookston in the annual Judging Conference for two-year and four-year schools of North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA).

This year, Aggie students represented academic programs in agribusiness, agronomy and animal science.

"The achievement of NCTA's student teams is truly remarkable, “said NCTA Dean Ron Rosati. “A contest such as this allows us to compare the knowledge of our students against that of students from other colleges and universities across the nation.

“NCTA is one of the smallest colleges at the competition so the fact that our teams placed in the top five nationally speaks very well for the skill of our students and the teaching ability of our faculty,” he added.

Dr. Brad Ramsdale, agronomy professor and crops judging coach, started the NCTA crops team just six years ago.  He took six students to the contest where individually they captured third, fourth and fifth places.

“We are very proud of all the accomplishments by our students,” said Ramsdale. “The NACTA Judging Conference is a wonderful opportunity for our students to showcase their knowledge and skills in a wide variety of agricultural disciplines.”

Jeremy Sievers, agribusiness management professor, coordinated five ag business students for the school’s agribusiness contests in management, sales and computers.

Dr. Doug Smith, animal science division chairman and livestock coach, was unable to attend yet sent 10 students who judged in four highly competitive contests.

NCTA’s overall team and individual results:

Agricultural Computers: 1^st place team
Desarae Catlett, Broken Bow, 1^st place individual
Trevor Schipporet, Merna, 4^th
Kylie Cadwallader, Brewster, 10^th
Garth Packard, Ogallala,

Dairy Judging: 3^rd Place Team of DeVries, Fleer, Vallery and Eric Shoop of Dalmatia, Penn.

Horse Judging: 4^th place team of Shane Hoer, Blair; Heath Buchanan,Douglas; Aufdenkamp and Vales

Livestock Management: 4^th place team of Hinrichs, Vales, DeVries and Vallery

Knowledge Bowl Team:  The team of Trevor Schipporeit, Calvin DeVries, Eric Shoop, Ross Steward and Aaron Jensen competed in the quiz bowl

First-year crops judging students Maggie Brunmeier, Bayard, and Vincent Jones, Kirwin, Kansas, participated as unofficial contestants and gained valuable experience in their first national competition, Dr. Ramsdale said.

Animal Science students will receive their awards on Thursday, April 28 at the Animal Science “Steak and Shake” banquet and dance in Curtis. The public is invited.

NCTA’s Agribusiness and Crops students will be recognized at a public Awards Night at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

The 2017 NACTA Judging Conference on April 6-8 will be closer for Nebraska colleges to travel, at Kansas State University in Manhattan. The contest often draws more than 50 colleges with over 800 entries.

For more information about NCTA’s academic programs or for details about April 28 and May 4 awards events, see ncta.edu.unl or call 1-800-3-CURTIS.